20-plus dead in new round of storms

Published 8:00 pm, Sunday, May 11, 2008

Associated Press

SENECA, Mo. -- Stunned tornado survivors picked through the little that was left of their communities Sunday after storms tore across the Plains and South, killing at least 22 people in three states and leaving behind a trail of destruction and stories of loss.

At least 15 people died in southwestern Missouri. In the fading mining town of Picher, Okla., at least six people were killed, and at least one person died in storms in Georgia.

Susan Roberts, 61, stared at the smashed remains of her classic 1985 Cadillac sitting on her living room floor -- the only thing left of her Seneca home. A woman who had apparently sought shelter in the car died there, she said.

"That is what is tearing me up," Roberts said. She had warned the woman -- who stopped to change a tire as Roberts and her 13-year-old grandson drove away from the rental house -- to escape. The tornado hit just minutes later.

"I'm from Kansas. I grew up watching storms," she said as she walked through the debris. "If I didn't have my grandson with me, I probably wouldn't have left."

The same storm system earlier hit Oklahoma, where at least six people died and 150 people were injured in Picher.

The town, once a bustling mining center of 20,000 that dwindled to about 800 people as families fled lead pollution there, was a surreal scene of overturned cars, smashed homes and mattresses, and twisted metal high stuck in the canopy of trees.

"I swear I could see cars floating," said Herman Hernandez, 68. "And there was a roar, louder and louder."

Ed Keheley was headed to town to help out Saturday night when he heard a woman screaming. He looked over to see her hand reaching out of debris.

"She was sitting in the bathtub, she had curlers in her hair and she wanted out of there," said Keheley, who along with several others pulled her out.

The area is part of a Superfund site, and residents have been asked to take part in state and federal buyouts in recent years.

"From what I've been able to determine, that wouldn't have any bearing on whether a disaster declaration would come forth," said Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Earl Armstrong.

One storm victim's child was initially reported dead, but state emergency management spokeswoman Michelann Ooten later said the infant was actually alive at a Tulsa hospital.

Now Playing:

As the system moved east on Sunday, storms in Georgia killed at least one person in Dublin, about 120 miles southeast of Atlanta, authorities said. Weather officials had not yet confirmed whether the storms produced any tornadoes there.